Natural Resources committee  That's a very good question. In fact, this is one of the areas in which we have taken incredible leadership. I think the Canadian Institutes of Health Research have verified that Ontario leads Canada regarding being able to drive down wait times in certain areas, cancer among them.

Natural Resources committee  I believe that on May 29 the federal and provincial governments jointly announced that they would provide some $22 million for upgrades to the research reactor at McMaster University in Hamilton. My understanding is that that's the only reactor in Canada, other than NRU, capable of using the technetium isotopes.

Natural Resources committee  I'm disappointed that the restart dates for the reactor have not been met, and I'm quite concerned that the reactor won't open until spring 2010. I'm relying upon the federal government to provide a long-term, sustainable supply of medical isotopes. It might be appropriate to pose those questions directly to the federal ministers.

Natural Resources committee  In my letter to Minister Raitt I indicated that Ontario would be willing to work in partnership with the federal government to look at securing a sustainable supply. We have not, of our own nature, produced a plan to do so. But I look forward to engaging Minister Raitt and/or Minister Aglukkaq or members of the government in that regard.

Natural Resources committee  Mr. Julian, I wrote letters on May 25 and June 9 to Minister Raitt and received a reply on August 19.

Natural Resources committee  Mr. Julian, thank you very much. I did receive a letter from Minister Raitton August 19. Minister Raitt outlined that she felt that the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care should be commended for the efforts we've had in coordinating and dealing with the current crisis, and she then went on to outline some work that she had commissioned in order to have AECL work on bringing the NRU safely back into operation as soon as possible.

Natural Resources committee  It is speculative and it is hard to estimate. For example, we know that the Dutch reactor has gone down for maintenance. We know that at one point the South African reactor went down as well. If there is a disruption in the overall international supply, I think you would expect even greater impacts for the supply of medical isotopes in the supply-demand dynamic and for the costing of medical isotopes, and as this goes on for an extended period of time, there will be impacts on the extent of overtime, burnout, and the effects upon medical staff.

Natural Resources committee  It could, potentially. We will continue to monitor that and provide our very best estimates. We won't know or be able to understand it until it is realized, and that obviously will be quite a bit into the future.

Natural Resources committee  I know--and it was reiterated to me in the reply from Minister Raitt--that on June 16 Minister Aglukkaq announced that the federal government would provide $6 million. But I believe that was for research funding to assess alternative medical and diagnostic procedures that could potentially alleviate it.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Monsieur Malo. Time is a critical aspect of this. Imagine you are a cancer patient or their family and you are finding that you are having weeks of delay with simply having the diagnostic performed to be able to inform what the medical treatment would be. Of course, it backs up and means that the medical treatment itself is delayed.

Natural Resources committee  That's a very good question. There have been no assurances that the federal government will assume its share of costs. I was rather disheartened when I read one week ago in a Globe and Mail article that Ottawa's response contained no indication that such compensation would be forthcoming.

Natural Resources committee  I am not aware of it. I will say that quite recently I have added PET scans as an OHIP-insured service. In fact, we have one of the largest PET infrastructures in Canada, with ten PET scanners at nine centres. One additional PET scanner is expected to be operational this fall at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and will be part of Ontario's PET program.

Natural Resources committee  We have not tracked additional wait times for PET scanners at this point. You are quite correct that it is only for bone scans. It is something that we are concerned about and are monitoring, but to date we have not seen an increase in wait times or any backup, as we have in other areas.

Natural Resources committee  I have not had any confirmation that the federal operations centre is operational.

Natural Resources committee  Well, I would say quite fairly that Ontario officials have been working with federal officials to be able to monitor and understand the situation. I cannot speak about the efforts with other provinces, but I would characterize the working relationship between the federal government and the provincial government as a good and constructive one.